Netherjazz: Neon River (NL/KR/PT/BE)

After Portugal, Germany and Norway, this year’s theme country of the Tampere Jazz Happening is the Netherlands, with a population of approximately 18 million. There will be enough Dutch musicians or singers, or at least those living in the Netherlands, for every day of the event from start to finish, from Thursday till Sunday.

This theme is known as Netherjazz, and as usual, its mainstay is Thursday evening’s free concert in Klubi at Tullikamari. The concert features three up-and-coming groups this year, only two of which have released a record so far.

However, no conclusions or generalisations based on their nationalities should be made this time, as only two of the twelve musicians of the evening are Dutch. This naturally underlines the attraction of the Netherlands and, above all, the multi-million city of Amsterdam with its international and multicultural character. Or could this ‘over-representation’ hint at innovative and internationally interesting ‘Dutch jazz’ no longer being able to exist without foreign musicians who have migrated to the country?

A good example of this, and equally of the power of music to bring people together, is Neon River, a band of three musicians in their thirties who are the opening act of the theme evening. Its keyboard player Chaerin Im (b. 1999) is from South Korea, bassist Matteo Mazzù (b. 1995) from Belgium and drummer Pedro Nobre (b. 1997) from Portugal.

The best-known member of this group as a composer and performer of her own music is Im, who has released two albums of her own. She also plays in the quintet of her highly praised countrywoman, drummer-composer Sun-Mi Hong, who also lives in Amsterdam. This quintet played in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere last March.

Neon River, which specialises in new-age electro jazz, has been fine-tuning their music for two years and released their first 20-minute album Olsen last May. At that time, the trio listed such artists as Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus and Floating Points as their influences and role models.